Switzerland

When I left Krakow, I got to take one of my favorite journeys again - across Austria. I spent another night at the same hostel in Vienna to break up the trip, and then headed for Zurich. Once I arrived there, I walked to the hostel and was very lucky to get the last dorm bed, especially since the only other hostel was outside of town. My first impression of Switzerland was how expensive it was! I had heard this, but hadn´t realized just how true it would be. My hostel bed was €28 I think, which was definitely more than I had spent anywhere else thus far in Europe. Then I went walking around the streets and plazas nearby and couldn´t believe it! Basic cheap foods that I had been living on in Europe were two to three times more expensive! I think the cheapest was a hot dog for €6! I was so dismayed by this that I actually refused to eat dinner that first night on principle. Of course eventually I needed to eat, and discovered that the supermarket nearby had decent food at more tolerable prices, so that is what I did the rest of my time in Switzerland. And of course, due to the expense, I also realized that I would not be staying very long in the country. My first and only night in Zurich was spent attempting to walk around the nearby lake that my guidebook talked about. However, it neglected to mention that the lake is many miles long, so when it started getting dark I realized that I would not make it all the way and turned around. I did get some great pictures of the Alps behind the lake, and sailboats, and a beautiful sunset. The next day, I walked around the city a bit, mostly to see some famous churches. The 13th-century Fraumunster cathedral has some of the world´s most distinctive stained-glass windows, of which photographs were not allowed to be taken. I also saw St. Peterskirche, which has Europe´s largest clock face (8.7 meters in diameter), and the Grossmunster Church. And then for a couple of hours, I couldn´t pass up Zurich´s free bike rentals (generally throughout Europe, bike rentals are way too expensive for me to get, even for a couple of hours, so this was a great deal, and very impressive for a place like Switzerland that charges so much for everything!), so I put down a deposit and biked around for awhile until it was time to catch my train up into the mountains.
Since I was in Switzerland, I couldn´t not go to the Alps! I decided on the small town of Grindelwald, and had to pay extra to get there, as my Eurail pass only covered 25% of that short half-hour train ride from Interlaken up into the mountain towns. I didn´t know this, and was surprised when the conductor told me, and then proceded to charge me more than even the regular price (it is normal for them to do this). When I arrived, I attempted to follow the usual poor directions to the hostel, and was lucky enough to meet a girl and her mom from Japan who were going there as well, so I just went with them. It was probably a 30-minute walk straight uphill, and I was grateful to finally arrive and get a bed (this one was €36!!). Our room, though, had a balcony that looked out onto the north face of Eiger Mountain, which is amazing! The town was settled down in the base of the mountains, and reminded me a lot of Telluride. I stood out on that balcony for more than an hour, just looking at the mountains and town, and waiting for darkness to descend. It was so beautiful and peaceful, and I could hear the clanging cow bells as they munched away on the hills below the hostel. The next day, although I knew I couldn´t stay another night there for that price, I also knew that I had to take advantage of being there, and of the beautiful weather, and hike for at least a few hours. That day has ended up being one of my favorite of the entire trip thus far! I hiked through the Alps for about 6 hours, and saw almost no other people. The weather was perfect, and wildflowers covered every hill, with a river running through the middle of it all. There were cows and goats watching me the whole time, and quaint Swiss homes and guesthouses dotting the landscape. There was still snow in some areas, which was fun for me to try to get across, and to get a timer picture of. I remember how breathtaking coming up over every hill and rounding every corner was. I just couldn´t get over how beautiful it all was! It made me realize that I live in a place equally as beautiful - the Rocky Mountains - and I need to take much more advantage of that and start exploring those mountians more when I get home! I think I have a few friends that might be willing to explore with me;)
Reluctantly, I left Grindelwald and went back down to Interlaken. As it was so late, I stayed in a hostel there that night. The next day, I took a boat on the beautiful Lake Thun from Interlaken to Spiez, which was included in my Eurail pass. It was another perfect weather day, and I got some great pictures once again. From Spiez, I borded a train bound for Milan, Italy!